He didn’t hesitate to hand her over and my heart melted the moment she was in my arms.
I gently sat on the edge of the bed and looked down at her. Mouse did the same, his body so close to mine that I could feel the heat radiating off of him.
I didn’t know what this meant but I understood that it changed everything. I was still hurt, but I just didn’t have it in me to hold onto the anger any longer.
I sat there for a long time while he told me everything.
I mean everything.
He started by talking about Amber, who I knew a little about. I’d seen them together enough to catch onto the fact that they had maybe been dating when I arrived. As he talked, I got the sense that it was a strange kind of relationship and that maybe he thought he wanted more than she was ready to give.
It was hard to hear but then again, I was smart enough to see that I didn’t really have any room to say anything. I couldn’t fault him for a life he had before this thing between us expanded.
He went on to tell me how they ended. I suspected they had since I hadn’t seen her around for a while and I figured Mouse wasn’t the type to touch someone when he was with someone else. Then he told me that he hadn’t talked to her since that night she walked away from him. He didn’t even know that she had been carrying his child.
I got angry inside for him when he told me that she had no plans of telling him that he had a kid and that she was going to give the baby up for adoption. But then he explained that she’d had a really bad experience with a motorcycle club when she was younger and it sort of messed her up. I could maybe understand her reason behind not wanting her daughter raised in this sort of environment, though I knew these men were nothing short of caring.
And my heart broke when he told me that she had complications that caused them to pull the baby out early. Amber didn’t make it and Sparrow had to stay in the hospital for five days.
All this time this was what he was going through. He did it by himself and my heart broke again.
“I should have called you,” he said. “I wanted to, but there was so much going on and I didn’t really know how to deal with it. And I didn’t see a way that you could still care about me with all of this.”
“Malcolm,” I said sadly, the tears were threatening to spill over as I looked into his eyes. “I am shocked but I still feel the same for you. I don’t understand how you couldn’t see that I would want to be there for you, no matter what. Isn’t that what love is? To be there for someone whether they need it or not? To care for them even when the unexpected comes along?”
“You are truly the most amazing woman I’ve ever met, Ingram,” he breathed out and his forehead came to rest against mine while he held my eyes. I would have sworn there was a little wetness to them.
I didn’t know how to respond to his words so I held Sparrow close and kept silent.
“I can’t ask this of you,” he said, his breath ghosting over my mouth. “It’s not fair and it’s not right, but I love you and I don’t want my life to be without you.”
I gasped.
He said he loved me.
There were butterflies in my stomach and this time a tear slipped out and rolled down my cheek. He moved to kiss it away. Then his lips hesitantly kissed a little lower. I didn’t stop him. I didn’t want to.
Another one, and I felt my eyes drift closed.
And then one right on the corner of my mouth.
The wait, the anticipation, of feeling his lips on mine was all but killing me.
Finally, his lips lightly grazed over mine and I tilted my head enough to give him the okay.
The kiss was soft and sweet. I felt his relief the moment our lips met.
It was short but the weight of that kiss was heavy. It meant something so deep and I knew I’d never go back.
“Malcolm,” I said with a wide smile.
“Yeah?”
“I love you too.”
He froze for a second like he wasn’t sure he’d heard me right. Then the biggest, most beautiful smile broke across his face. That smile was the best thing I’d seen in a long time and I was so happy it was me that put it there.
